幼儿英语教学法浅析

幼儿英语教学法浅析

杨柳

摘要：

幼儿英语教学和成人英语教学的方法是不同的，幼儿英语教学是根据幼儿身心发展特点设置的教学方法。结合当前流行的教学方法和中国的实际教学实践，在我国主要有三种幼儿英语教学方法：视听教学法（Audio-lingual Method），全身反应法（Total physical respond (TPR) method）和交际语言教学法（Communicative Language Teaching）。

关键词: 视听教学法，全身反应法，交际语言教学法，幼儿学习者

1. Introduction

Children who learn English as a second or foreign language are not only related to their learning age, but also to their own levels of foreign language proficiency, which is only beginners. In terms of young learners’ characteristics, namely, short attention span or intense curiosity, the approaches of teaching English language to them may be different from adults. The following approaches are selected for young learners, combining current popular methodology with actual teaching practice in Chinese context.

2. Audio-lingual Method

Audio-lingual method is one of effective approaches to teaching English as a second or foreign language for young learners. The term audio-lingual consists of two components in the communication process: audio focus on listening and lingual refers to speaking. The emphasis of employing audio-lingual method is based on the sequencing language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing (Abu-Melhim, 2009, p42).

“This hierarchy of skills suggests that a learner must first listen to a language before any other skills are developed. The theory is that a good listener will ultimately make a better speaker because learners must focus their attention on actually hearing what is said… After developing listening and speaking skills, the next logical evolvement in this sequence is reading. Once the speakers have arrived at a closer mastery of the first two skills, reading becomes easier and more natural…Writing is considered a subordinate or supportive activity to oral learning”.

The aim of this method is to use the target language in communication. The foreign language is taught directly through the target language, instead of the first language to explain new words or grammar rules. The teacher makes use of drills to teach vocabulary and sentence patterns. Dialogues, including drill patterns, are the dominant means of presenting language items. If the exercises are well-designed, the young learners may be provided with practices through structure models and large vocabulary. This type of teaching method is applied to young learner’s English learning (Er, 2014). The teacher incorporates with the learners through dialogue memorization and the use of minimal pairs. When it gradually turns into discussion, young learners are able to express their own inventions and views, without model provided. Meanwhile, the pronunciation and intonation are given special attention and corrected. Once they do speaking, error-correction is more likely to ensure the young learners to perform well (Abu-Melhim, 2009). However, overusing drills patterns and teacher-error-correction may discourage very young learners’ motivation on learning foreign language, due to the reason that the learning process seems to be repeated and tedious.

3. Total Physical Respond

Total physical respond (TPR) method is the coordination of language and physical movement. In the classroom, the teacher provides commands in target language with body movements, and very young learners follow the teacher’s instructions with whole-body actions in response. By doing this, a positive feedback loop can be created between the teacher’s speech and children’ actions (Lin & Kuo, 2024). Er (2014) has made a strong claim that TPR was the most effective method for children in their empirical research findings. According to data collection from 32 kindergarten teachers in Turkey through questionnaires and interviews, “the full of actions in TPR were more appealing to the children and they produced more utterances compared to other approaches (Er, 2014, p833).

TPR is suitable for beginning learners and succeed in the development of children’s foreign language on the basis of three aspects. In Stephen Krashen’s theory, language is only acquired when students have exposure to comprehensible input. Children typically spent a long time listening to language before they attempted to speak, and that they can understand and react to the utterances even which are more complex than those they can produce (Nikolaus & Fourtassi, 2023). In TPR, using the target language with physical movements may be more accessible to very young learners, and in turn they are likely to generate much more reactions through the teacher’s commands. In other words, speech can appear naturally and spontaneously after learners internalize an extensive map of how the target language works through input.

Secondly, the effective language learning attributes to the right hemisphere of brain. The brain is pided into two hemispheres according to the functions, and the right hemisphere is primarily controlled by the language activities. Once sufficient amount of right-hemisphere learning has taken place, the left hemisphere triggers to produce language and to initiate more abstract language processes (Shin, Lee, & Bong, 2022). The activities in TPR can be considered easier to prepare in the classroom, including mimes, gestures, videos and other physical activities combined with authentic materials, such as cartoons, which are better performed in grammar and vocabulary by very young learners.

The aim of TPR development is to reduce the stress and anxiety perceived, and thereby motivates young learners to continue beyond a beginning level. Young learners are encouraged to produce language without any pressure. Most teaching-language method may not take stressful nature for consideration, and even some of teachers expect very young learners to provide more output during the process (eg, audio-lingual method). It is reported that beginner students undertake a long “silent” period of responding to the teacher’s instructions before speaking occurs (Ellis, 2020). Production of utterances is not forced as it may cause emotional stress. The key to stress-free learning is to accord with children’s nature for language development and create relaxed and delightful learning environment. Foreign language learning is based on the way children learn their native language. Teachers using TPR believe that it can bring enjoyment to young learners who experience in engaging foreign language communication (Xie, 2021). The ultimate goal in total physical response is to achieve foreign language proficiency of oral fluency.

4. Communicative Language Teaching

The effectiveness of communicative language teaching (CLT) has emphasized as a dominant technique in teaching any language. Some applied linguists (eg, Dos Santos, 2020) had demonstrated that language teaching needs to focus on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of grammatical rules, namely, sentence structures. Communicative Language Teaching aims broadly to “apply the theoretical perspective of the Communicative Approach by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication” (Larsen-Freeman, 2023, p26). Young learners utilize CLT techniques in the linguistic context to learn and practice the target language through interaction with one another both in the classroom and outside classroom. Also, they are allowed to incorporate with own personal experiences into language learning environment as to achieve using English as a foreign language for communicative purposes. 

CLT approach started from Chomsky’s theory referring to linguistic competence and was revised by Hymes who held the view that linguistic theory needed to integrated with communication and culture, which indicated that a person’s language acquisition requires both knowledge and ability for language use. The achievement of truly communicative competence is embodied in the social interaction and cultural exchange (Swartz, Barbosa, & Crawford, 2020). 

In East Asia, many investigations have examined the “effect of English as foreign language instruction” in primary education (Butler, 2014, p6). The rise of CLT derives from lack of success with traditional language method and increasing need for foreign language learning. It corresponds to the global demand for communication in English and the teaching aim of fostering young learner’s communicative competence. In CLT, learners can receive meaningful input, use the target language through social interaction, and focus on learning process. However, since activities in CLT include role-play, interviews, group work, information gap and opinion sharing and requiring a certain degree of communicative skills, it is less likely to be implemented in beginners’ classrooms, and therefore teachers need to think about learners’ language proficiency based on their levels before engaging teaching.

5. Conclusion

The Audio-lingual Method, Total Physical Response (TPR) method, and Communicative Language Teaching represent unique approaches to language learning, each with its own strengths and limitations. The Audio-lingual Method emphasizes repetition and imitation to build linguistic proficiency. The TPR method, on the other hand, harnesses the power of physical movements to enhance language comprehension and production, particularly for young learners. Communicative Language Teaching takes a functional and pragmatic approach, prioritizing the development of real communication skills. Each method offers valuable insights into how language is learned and used, though ultimately, the most effective approach likely depends on the inpidual young learner’s preferences, needs, and learning context. These methods which tailor to the unique needs of young learners, may offer the most comprehensive and impactful language learning experience within Chinese context.

References:

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Dos Santos, L. M. (2020). The Discussion of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Language Classrooms. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 7(2), 104-109.

Ellis, R. (2020). Task-based language teaching for beginner-level young learners. Language Teaching for Young Learners, 2(1), 4-27.

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Larsen-Freeman, D. (2023). Conceptualizing language education: Theories and Practices. In The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 7-26). Routledge.

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Nikolaus, M., & Fourtassi, A. (2023). Communicative feedback in language acquisition. New Ideas in Psychology, 68, 100985.

Shin, D. D., Lee, M., & Bong, M. (2022). Beyond left and right: Learning is a whole-brain process. Theory into Practice, 61(3), 347-357.

Swartz, S., Barbosa, B., & Crawford, I. (2020). Building intercultural competence through virtual team collaboration across global classrooms. Business and professional communication quarterly, 83(1), 57-79.

Xie, R. (2021). The effectiveness of total physical response (TPR) on teaching English to young learners. Journal of Language Teaching and research, 12(2), 293-303.